Free Mountains Apart (Mills & Boon Heartwarming) by Carol Ross Page A

and now she just needed to figure out how to get the thing put up in this frozen ground....
    After what seemed like hours, she was still ineffectually chipping away at the snow with a shovel when the sound of a motor revving caught her attention. She turned and saw that Bering had pulled up next to the curb in his black pickup. He shut off the engine and got out.
    â€œNeed a hand?”
    â€œNo, I’m just hanging up a sign.” This was exactly what she needed right now, she thought with a surge of frustration, Bering happening upon her in another weak moment.
    â€œWell, I drove by earlier and thought that might be what you were doing. How’s it going?” He placed a hand on one hip and peered down at the pitiful indentation she’d managed to carve in the snow.
    â€œI’m getting there.”
    â€œReally?” he asked doubtfully, not bothering to mask his amusement.
    â€œReally, what?” she snapped. She was cold and yet sweaty underneath her jacket and winded from hacking at the icy snow and getting nowhere. She was irritable and in no mood for him to poke fun at her some more.
    He looked at the sign leaning against the side of the building. “Well, isn’t this just the niftiest thing?”
    â€œYeah, I think it turned out well. The center’s going to be a great addition to your town.”
    â€œReally? How so?”
    She stared at him, wondering if he was toying with her again. How could anyone not see the benefit of something like this? “Well, for starters...it will give people a place to get together.”
    He snorted ungracefully. “We have those places already.”
    She looked around. “You do? Where?”
    â€œAround here we call them homes and churches. And of course we have the VFW hall, the school, the inn, two restaurants, the café—”
    â€œBut there will be things to do here.”
    â€œWhat kinds of things?”
    â€œThere will be a gym, with tennis and racquetball courts and a rock-climbing wall. You know, things for kids to do...”
    â€œLook around you, Emily.”
    She did. Then she looked at him and shrugged. “What are you—”
    â€œEmily, we don’t need those things.” His tone sounded overly patient, patronizing. “We have things for kids to do. We have things for everyone to do. We have nature. We have ice hockey, skating, fishing, snowshoeing, snow-machining and skiing. We have hiking, biking, hunting and just your general scenery-gazing. For Pete’s sake, we don’t need a rock-climbing wall—we have actual rocks for people to climb on.”
    â€œBering, Cam-Field doesn’t want to take those things away. We want to add to them—”
    He barked out a laugh that held no humor. “Emily, just...save it. I don’t want to hear your...propaganda.”
    She bristled and faced him head-on. “Propaganda? Well, by all means, don’t let me keep you, then. What are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have a job?”
    He exhaled slowly and Emily thought he might be trying to gather his patience. “I’m sorry. All I meant was that you don’t have to waste your time by trying to convince me—it’s never going to happen. But look, I got the impression from watching you scratch away at this snow that maybe you could use a hand. So I went home and grabbed a few tools. And yes, I have a job. I own a guide service.”
    She remembered that, but she didn’t know exactly what such an enterprise entailed. “What do you guide?”
    â€œPeople.”
    She tipped her chin down and raised her eyes up toward his. “People—that’s clever. What types of outings do you guide these people on?”
    He grinned and said, “Fishing trips, hunting trips, rafting, wildlife viewings and glacier excursions up the coast—things like that.”
    â€œWhat kind of wildlife?”
    â€œAll kinds—moose, caribou, bear,